Bioenergy on Islands: An Environmental Comparison of Continental Palm Oil vs. Local Waste Cooking Oil for Electricity Generation

Abstract

Energy security on islands is a challenging issue due to their isolation from energy markets and fossil fuel dependence. In addition, islands’ average energy intensity has increased in recent years due to economic development. This research explores the environmental performance of two alternative non-variable bioelectricity feedstocks to increase energy resilience on islands. The study was developed for the Galápagos islands to address the environmental impacts from the direct use of waste cooking oil (WCO) and refined palm oil (RPO) to produce 1 MWh using the life cycle assessment methodological framework. A combination of primary and secondary data sources was used. The results show better performance for the electricity derived from WCO in all the impact categories considered when compared to RPO.

Keywords

• biofuels
• bioelectricity
• islands
• life cycle assessment
• bioenergy
• biomass